Across Australia’s food and beverage sector, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to improve hygiene performance, maintain audit readiness, and support long-term operational reliability.
Frequent washdowns, aggressive cleaning agents, and strict food safety requirements place sustained demands on electrical enclosures and control infrastructure throughout production environments. In these conditions, enclosure design plays a critical role in supporting cleanability, contamination prevention, and equipment protection.
As production facilities modernise, manufacturers are increasingly looking beyond standard stainless-steel protection toward enclosure systems specifically engineered for hygiene-critical environments.
Beyond stainless steel
Traditional stainless-steel enclosures are not automatically suited to food production environments.
Rittal’s Hygienic Design (HD) enclosure range has been developed specifically for food and beverage manufacturing applications where cleanability, corrosion resistance, and contamination prevention are essential.
Designed in line with EHEDG guidelines, HD enclosures incorporate:
- 30° sloped roofs to prevent water and residue accumulation.
- Rounded edges and smooth stainless-steel surfaces designed to minimise contamination traps.
- External blue silicone gaskets for improved visibility and sealing integrity.
- Joint-free external seals resistant to cleaning agents and disinfectants.
- IP69 protection ratings for resistance to dust and liquids during cleaning procedures.
These design features support more efficient sanitation processes while reducing contamination risk across hygiene-critical production areas.
Proven in practice
These requirements are reflected globally across modern food manufacturing operations.
Liquats Vegetals, one of Spain’s leading producers of plant-based beverages, implemented Rittal HD stainless-steel enclosures throughout its production environment to support both hygiene and sustainability objectives.
Operating under strict EHEDG standards, the company required enclosure systems capable of supporting rigorous cleaning procedures while protecting sensitive control technology throughout continuous production operations.
“When developing production methods, we follow the quality standards of the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG),” said Tasio Corachan, Process and Continuous Improvement manager at Liquats Vegetals.
“We decided some years ago that the components used in production – such as enclosures – must meet EHEDG standards.”
Liquats Vegetals selected Rittal HD enclosures due to features including smooth surfaces, joint-free silicone seals, and sloped roof geometry designed to simplify cleaning and reduce contamination risk.
The company also identified long-term durability as a key requirement for production infrastructure.
“We need to be able to rely on the quality of the components in our production equipment over a period of many years,” said Corachan.
Supporting modern food production environments
As food manufacturing environments continue to evolve, enclosure systems are expected to support more than environmental protection alone.
Hygiene performance, cleanability, durability, and simplified maintenance are becoming increasingly important to maintaining operational reliability and supporting food safety requirements across production facilities.
Digital maintenance workflows are also playing a greater role. Liquats Vegetals adopted Rittal ePOCKET to support documentation management and provide engineering teams with access to up-to-date equipment information and schematics.
This approach supports improved traceability, simplified servicing, and more efficient management of production infrastructure.
Designed for Food Manufacturing
For Australian food manufacturers, hygienic design is becoming an increasingly important consideration in the specification of production infrastructure.
Rittal’s HD enclosure range provides a practical and standards-based approach to hygiene-critical environments where cleanability, durability, and long-term operational performance remain essential.
Download brochure – An Appetite for Perfection.
Compare food-grade vs non-food-grade enclosures here.
